USAID Needs Time, Resources To Succeed During these tight fiscal times, “we need to modernize our International Affairs programs with a greater emphasis on transparency, accountability and effectiveness” in order to “be fiscally responsible and still make the critical investments we need in our International Affairs Budget,” former Rep. Mark…

Concerns regarding health risks “rose dramatically in Japan Tuesday” after officials said more radiation was released at a nuclear power plant that was damaged in the tsunami, the Associated Press reports. In an address to the nation, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation had been emitted from four reactors. “The level seems very high, and there is still a very high risk of more radiation coming out,” he said.

Though safety concerns have prevented U.S. disaster experts from entering Libya and seeing the situation first-hand, State Department officials said Monday that U.S. partners have been dispensing aid, CNN reports.

Concerns about radiation leaks from Japan’s nuclear plant, which was damaged in the recent earthquake and tsunami, might be “diverting attention from potentially worse threats to public health … like the cold and disrupted supplies of water,” Reuters reports.

Zimbabwe Government Tries To Address Severe Food Shortages In Some Provinces “Six of Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces face severe food shortages, and the government has ordered the country’s grain marketing board (GMB) to send grain to the affected areas, a state daily [the Herald] said Monday,” Agence France-Presse reports. “A government…

“Across large parts of Japan stricken a week ago by a quake and tsunami, aid isn’t getting through. Blizzards, impassible roads, worries over radiation exposure, fuel shortages and other logistical problems have stalled aid from getting to those who need it, even as officials have boosted the amount of food and other goods available to some easier-to-reach communities,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Situation In Japan ‘Demands Calm, But Considered’ International Response: In light of the recent disaster in Japan and ongoing concerns over radiation in the country,”WHO might consider convening experts to review the consequences for human safety of nuclear energy, and the wider lessons to be learned from recent earthquakes,” a…

Health care workers fleeing the besieged Libyan city of Sirte on Sunday said people wounded in the fighting “are dying on the operating table because fuel for the hospital generator has run out,” Reuters reports. “The fighting has entered its third week and civilians are caught up in a worsening humanitarian crisis,” the news agency writes, adding that “[a]id workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who brought medical supplies into Sirte on Saturday could not reach the hospital because of shooting.” The organization said it plans to return to Sirte and reach the hospital if security allows, Reuters notes (10/2).